September 14, 2010

A polar bear will rip your head off. If a polar bear shows up in your driveway, run for the hills -- or don't leave your house. Do not go out there and let it hug you. Headline: "Polar Bear Attacks Woman in Berlin Zoo -- April 11, 2009. A polar bear attacked a woman in Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time." She wanted to show the polar bear that she felt sorry for it, that she understood and supported efforts to make its habitat safer.

Nissan is making the world unsafe for people who take things literally.

I wonder if those who voted for: "it's dangerously stupid" were taking the poll question literally by voting on taking this commercial literally; or possibly were taking the post's question figuratively and addressing the underlying enviro-messaging as "dangerous"... I was in the treacle camp

My husband and I were discussing these hybrids today. California is over 1100 miles long. I'm at one end of the State and in my car it takes two good days of driving to go to the south. I maybe could do it in one day if I was younger and used drugs...ahem.

Just how convenient is it going to be to drive a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt to L.A.? Not very.

These cars have very little purpose or use, unless you live IN the city and never plan to leave the city.

Stupid waste of money and they take more energy resources to produce than a traditional automobile.

If they were smarter, they would be in Yellowstone raiding "picakinick" baskets with Yogi.

They have survived ice ages AND previous global warming periods. I'm not worried about them and I'm certainly not going to be guilted into buying a worthless piece of shit 'green' car because the bears are are sort of pretty to look at.

My husband and I were discussing these hybrids today. California is over 1100 miles long. I'm at one end of the State and in my car it takes two good days of driving to go to the south. I maybe could do it in one day if I was younger and used drugs...ahem.

Just how convenient is it going to be to drive a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt to L.A.? Not very.

The Leaf isn't a hybrid but instead a pure electric car. It's range is limited to about 100 miles so it's limited to local driving. A Volt depends first on battery power for the first 30 miles or so but has a gas engine for extended range, so it's a type of hybrid. A hybrid like a Prius uses a gas engine for most driving with supplemental electric power for acceleration. My wife and I took ours on a 3 day, 1500 mile trip a few weeks ago. It did fine. I think I got a bad tank of gas at Rapid City, SD because the mileage dropped into the low 40 range. It had been averaging well over 50 MPG before that. I kind of think the station sold me E85 at regular gas prices but can't prove it.

Most folks, like myself, commute less than 35 miles per day, which is why the Leaf, and other EVs in the making, make perfect sense. When I want to make the long haul, I will continue to use our SUV. And the old folks who worry about hugging a polar bear, are the same one who claim gaming makes kids violent because they can not distinguish reality from the virtual world-- give me a break.

I like how the polar bear recognizes the Leaf as being an environmentally friendly car. Because bears are sensient that way. They are liberals, they read the new york times. They voted for Obama. One thing I note though, is the guy in the commercial seems to live alone.No wife, no kids. Yet seems to have a pretty big house for one person. While he can be commended for his purchase of a green car, maybe he's still wasting energy powering his big screen tvs. Maybe the bear should still rip his head off because he lives in the suburbs and not in the city, where people don't necesarily need cars.

I won't be hugging any wildlife. Weather permitting I'm hoping to get a half day of trout fishing in Bozeman MT with my nephew who guides.

Beautiful country, both Yellowstone and Montana. Enjoy. And you should be safe hugging the fish.

The problem with polar bears is that they truly are apex predators, which means that they view everything else, including us, as potential prey. At least the black bears that seem to be around wherever I spend much time have some worries, some times, about humans.

It was weird a year ago. I was watching some nature program, and they were alternating between problem bears and alligators. I knew things were close to home when I first saw a ski lift in the background, and then familiar sheriff's cars and deputy outfits. Turns out that the footage was taken about 10 miles from here. Unfortunately, after repeated attempts to move the bear away from human habitation, he was terminated. Of course, they didn't show that, but just mentioned it at the end of the segment as an aside. Oh, and they used a different euphemism.

I would have a lot less anger about electric cars if more of the electricity came from nuclear, or dead birds. As it is, in a lot of places, it's merely a cosmetic choice of where and in what form fossil fuels will be burned. Polar bear sad again.

I like it. It's a polar bear! And he's hugging someone just like my old (very large) dog used to hug me, with those big paws! I think it's cute. There is a reason why Coke does those commercials with baby polar bears around christmas.

On a political level, I don't have to agree with the politics but I would rather watch a polar bear walking around in a car commercial thousands of times more than I have enjoyed pretty much any car commercial I have ever seen. (car commercials, in general, suck)

And of course, anyone who hugs a real polar bear is a complete idiot and deserves the darwin award they are about to get.

A car is just a tool for most folks for most occasions. There are probably enough people - with short commutes in nice weather - for whom this would work.

Let's see how the buff mags do in trying to break it. Someday there will be a first viable electric car. This may be it. It won't be for everybody - but paraphrasing Bob Lutz (IIRC) - better to have a car 20% love and 80% hate than one that 100% can't remember.

But I still ain't buying until my current 30mpg beater car gives up the ghost.

I don't recall Rush ever trying to pass any laws preventing Liberals from being stupid. Just the opposite actually.

Who is trying to pass laws that you have to buy a Leaf? Or watch this commercial. It such a painfully fucking stupid argument anyways we keep hearing [not yours] this stupid red herring that Polar bears are mean so they deserve to be stranded [if there even is global warming!]. Or it's snowing in Copenhagen [it can't be THAT bad!]. Algore is fat.

The look in that tool's eyes when his initial fear turns to joy at the polar bear's embrace could tell you a lot about environmentalists...or not.

We need to "listen" to nature, not the other way round. It is not to be controlled, or conquered...that is an old Christian notion that we need to throw away. We can change and/or harm our fragile ecosystem (with which I agree) and we need to find "balance".

A potential preponderance of evidence tells the environmentalist all he needs to know...after that it's time (climate change legislation, getting out the green gospel) to put it in action.

I see that garage is in fine form today. First he claims that Rush's criticism of the ad is 'telling us what we can and can't do", and then when confronted he resorts to accusing us all of hating on those poor polar bears. What a maroon.

I feel about this stupid commercial the same way that I felt about that Audi Super Bowl commercial with the Green Police, where at the end, the quisling driving the Audi "clean diesel" car was "good to go" while all of the other shlubs in their regular cars were held up by the green nazis. And now this stupid polar bear trope. Bah! Make him into a rug!